Electronics executive Denner gets the brass ring at Bosch
 | Volkmar Denner takes over July 1. |
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A sure sign that a company is a juggernaut are those long, quiet intervals between changes at the top. At Bosch, the world's largest auto supplier, they only change CEOs about once a decade. And there's usually not much drama involved -- at least outwardly.
But there was a slight surprise last week when a successor was named for Franz Fehrenbach, 62, the top man at Bosch since 2003. A week earlier, Germany's manager magazin, which usually has the scoop on such things, had reported that the long-time head of Bosch's automotive unit, Bernd Bohr, 55, would succeed Fehrenbach.
Instead it will be Volkmar Denner, 55, who has run Bosch's automotive electronics division since 2003. The changes take effect July 1.
Denner's promotion could reflect his specialty -- and where Bosch thinks the industry is headed. While responsible for "user experience," in the Bosch vernacular, he has focused on Web-enabled concepts. One example is "vehicle interconnectivity," the company said.
As part of the great cycle of life at Bosch, Fehrenbach will move on to replace Hermann Scholl, 76, as chairman of the supervisory board. Nine years ago Fehrenbach took over as CEO from Scholl, who was in the job from 1993 until 2003.
